John Terry trial: My friend shouldn’t be in the dock, says Ashley Cole

England footballer John Terry should not have been taken to court over racism claims, his team-mate Ashley Cole said on Wednesday.

Chelsea defender Terry, 31, is accused of calling Anton Ferdinand a “f****** black c***” during a Premier League game on 23 October last year.

He denies a racially aggravated public order offence, saying that he was sarcastically repeating the slur that Mr Ferdinand mistakenly thought he had used.

Mr Cole, also 31, told Westminster Magistrates Court: “I think we shouldn’t be sitting here.”

He said while racism should never be tolerated, repeating what you thought someone said was not the same. “If I repeated something that I thought you said, that’s totally different than if someone just says something.”

The court also heard a statement from former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who denied Terry was racist.

Mr Mourinho, who manages Spanish champions Real Madrid, said Terry had an excellent relationship with all the players regardless of ethnicity when he was Chelsea boss between June 2004 and September 2009. Terry also championed the FA’s anti-racism campaigns.

Mr Mourinho said: “I never once witnessed any demonstration of racism or racial abuse or behaviour. I am certain that John Terry is not a racist.”

Several players – including Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres and Petr Cech – had signed copies of a prepared statement that said: “I have never heard John Terry use any form of racist language and have never heard any suggestion that he may have done so.”

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck also praised the defendant’s character. He said: “I would say he has an almost uncanny mental strength that when there are some bumps in his personal life he is able to go on the football field and do his job as though nothing is going on.”

In his evidence, Mr Cole

described Terry as “a close friend”, with whom he had played at Chelsea and for England for six or seven years. But he said there was a “conflict” because he is also friends with Mr Ferdinand and his brother Rio.

Asked by George Carter-Stephenson, QC, for Terry: “Did you want to get involved in the situation?” he replied: “No.”

The barrister then asked about a statement Mr Cole made after the match.

Mr Carter-Stephenson said: “When you made the statement, what was in your mind?”

Mr Cole replied: “The FA

summoned me to do it.”

The barrister continued: “Did you feel there was any conflict?”

Mr Cole said: “Yeah. JT is my team-mate and friend. Anton and Rio and his family, I’ve known for a long time.”

He said Terry would laugh off taunts on the football pitch.

“He would probably laugh about it, it’s part and parcel of the game and you get used to it.”

When asked to describe Terry as a football captain, he said: “He’s one of the best, very inspirational.”

Earlier, Terry told the court that he had been “keen” to speak to police about alleged racist abuse.

He said this was because: “I knew there was nothing out there that would show that I had done anything wrong.”

Terry told the court: “I was keen to go forward with my police statement, my FA statement. If I had anything to hide I wouldn’t have done that.”

He said he made a statement before seeing any film footage of the incident.

“If there was ever any doubt in my mind, I could have held back, soaked it up and thought, ‘Let’s wait until tomorrow, let’s see what kind of footage is out there’.”

Prosecutor Duncan Penny put it to Terry that he had made a

remark about having sex with Ferdinand’s girlfriend, in response to taunts about his own alleged affair with a team-mate’s former partner.

Terry denied this and the case continues.